I was lucky enough to spend a week in Barbados and one of the highlights was the Friday night Oistins Fish Fry. Oistins started out as a fish market but then someone came up with the bright idea of setting up a stall to fry and sell the freshly caught fish and now it has developed into THE way for locals and tourists alike to spend their Friday night in Barbados.
There are now countless stalls offering freshly cooked fish, chicken and the biggest lobsters I have ever seen in my life! You could choose from tuna, swordfish, MahiMahi or flying fish with sides of Spanish rice or the Bajan favourite of Macaroni pie – all washed down with beer and rum. As I’ve never tasted it before I had the MahiMahi – it was just delicious, not quite as meaty as the other fish I had eaten previously.
Then it’s time to watch – or join in – with the dancing! First we went to the Bay Garden stage where a DJ plays the likes of Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Jamaican Ska, to watch the amazing local street dancers body-popping and moon walking, with a few ‘enthusiastic’ tourists joining in! Then we moved onto the square outside Lexie’s Bar where the local men wear jazz-era suits and spats and dance with ladies of a certain age in their best dancing dresses to calypso-style waltzes and two-step. You can’t help but smile at the elegance and style of these wonderful dancers. Such a good night out – do hope we’ll be back next year…